OPC UA is About to Follow IEC 61850 in its Energy Initiative

The standard series IEC 61850 has already helped globally for more than 20 years to improve (with a broad approach) the power system engineering, system and device configuration, information modelling, and information sharing ... helping to reach a high level of reuse-ability and getting more resilient systems ... keeping the power flowing and the grass green.

Many years after it became obvious that IEC 61850 uses such a broad approach, the time has come that the OPC Foundation tries to benefit from the big success of IEC 61850!! Really!

According to the OPC Foundation Energy Initiative [7 page PDF] standardized "Semantic Information Models of Energy-related Systems ..." are planned to use IEC 61850! Wow!

Excerpt: 

"In 2024. OPC UA has started to look at the whole energy market to help simplify, standardize and improve the resilience of connection points. Not only among the five major energy components but also within. ... One important standard that is widely used in substations, wind farms, solar array and other large utility size installations is the IEC 61850. The OPC UA Wind and Solar PV Operations and Monitoring (SPOM) working group, together with the IEC 61850-20 working group has started mapping the 61850 models to OPC UA models ...

THE CHALLENGE: FRAGMENTED ENERGY DATA

Many factories lack a consistent way to collect and analyze energy data from machines, devices, and production systems. Different communication technologies and proprietary interfaces often prevent seamless integration of energy information. Without standardized data structures and semantics, companies struggle to gain a clear overview of their energy usage. This makes it difficult to identify optimization potential, implement coordinated energy-saving measures, ..."

For exactly these reasons, the electric power industry started in the year 1995 to develop the standard series IEC 61850! The struggle is reduced since IEC 61850 touched the road.

With IEC 61850-8-3 (web-based communication using WebSockets, JSON and DER encodings) a new and modern information sharing is underway - while preserving the rest of IEC 61850 (engineering, configuration, models, ...) unchanged.

It is also interesting to see how the wind industry that developed the standard series IEC 61400-25 (Wind Turbines) has understood that the deviation from IEC 61850 as it happened in the first two editions of IEC 61400-25-2 (models) was not a good idea. The third edition of IEC 61400-25-2 will be harmonized with IEC 61850 (The ORIGINAL).

Congratulation for using THE ORIGINAL! ... always use the original IEC 61850 ... if possible ...

CDV Just Published: IEC 61400-25-2 Edition 3 - Wind Power Plants - Information Models

Just published: the Committee Draft for Vote (CDV) of the 3rd edition of the Standard for Wind turbines - IEC 61400-25-2: Communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants - Information models 

IEC 61400-25-2 ED3, 88/1199/CDV for Public Commenting (157 pages) 

DATE OF CIRCULATION: 2026-10-16
CLOSING DATE FOR VOTING: 2027-01-08

Excerpt from the Foreword:

"This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition: 

The harmonization of IEC 61400-25-2 with IEC 61850 in term of data modelling and document structure. The IEC 61400-25-2 Edition 3 is auto-generated from the reference UML model, following the process set-up in TC57 and described in IEC TS 61850-1-2. A benefit of this process is that this document is provided with Code Components, including the NSD.

Common data classes (CDC) specific to the wind power domain have been removed and replaced by existing CDCs from the IEC 61850-7-3:2011+AMD1:2020 to follow the rules set in IEC TS 61850-1-2. ..."

I highly appreciate that this 3rd edition compared to the first two editions is really harmonized with the original standard IEC 61850 - which was the base for the IEC 61400-25-2 ... BUT the group decided some 20+ years ago to be (for good reasons) "special" ... unfortunately I (and a few other experts) were not able to convince that the real benefit would be to just use the IEC 61850 as a base and just extend models for wind turbines. 

IEC awarded me with the IEC 1906 Award vor my involvement in IEC 61850 AND the adoption for wind turbines:

Congratulation for this step forward to reach a harmonious set of information models published by IEC 61850 AND IEC 61400-25-2 !!!

All other "tools" like SCL configuration language, services, protocols like IEC 61850-8-1 ad IEC 61850-8-3 (Websockets, JSON encoded messages; in preparation) ... can be used also for the wind turbines. The need for an extra comprehensive mapping of the models to OPC UA is ... !?

Next Step in CIM - IEC 61850 Harmonization: Public Commenting

IEC TC 57 just published the 57/2975/CDV for Public Commenting:

CLOSING DATE FOR VOTING: 2027-01-08

IEC 62361-102 ED1

Power systems management and associated information exchange - Interoperability in the long term -
Part 102: CIM - IEC 61850 harmonization 

Excerpt from the Scope:

"1.1 General

This part of IEC 62361 outlines a technical approach for achieving effective information exchange between power system installations governed by IEC 61850 and business systems integrated with IEC CIM standard data exchanges, based on a selected specific set of use cases, but also with the goal of creating a framework that will extend successfully to other use cases in the future. This document includes proposals to ‘harmonize’ the two standards by adapting or extending existing information models and/or defining new models, where such changes will enable more effective communication. Both current and future directions of models will be considered. The document aims to take into account existing standards for semantics, services, protocols, system configuration language, and architecture. ..."

Click HERE for the public commenting.

The Cyberattack on French Supermarket Refrigeration Should be a Wake-up

Here is a link to the research paper worth to read and take into account for your OT system:

When the Cold Chain Is the Target: The October 2026 Cyberattack on French Supermarket Refrigeration, a Trend in Temperature-Control OT, and a Comparison with Other Control-System Incidents

Publishing Editors: Bob Radvanovsky, infracritical®

Extract from the Abstract

"On the night of 11 October 2026 the refrigeration systems of hundreds of French supermarkets were made to defrost and warm on command, destroying stock and, in some stores, starting fires. This paper reads that event through the operational technology (OT) that holds food cold: the refrigeration system managers that stage compressors and condenser fans and schedule defrost, and the management interfaces through which maintenance firms reach them. It treats the event first as a cyber incident, an occurrence in which the behaviour of digital systems jeopardised the availability of a process, and settles the question of intent second, following the primary sources. It sets out what the public record establishes about the event and its scope [1–4], identifies the affected controller families and their support status [5–8], and places the event in a trend of cold-chain and refrigeration-control incidents running from 2022 to 2026 [5,9,10]. ..."

Click HERE for the report.

Stay safe!

German FNN Steuerbox (Control Box) Version 1.5 is now available as English Version, August 2026

The famous German VDE FNN Steuerbox (Control Box) Version 1.5 is now available as English Version (edition August 2026).

"The "Specification for Control Box: Functional and constructive properties" describes one option for implementing control via smart metering systems. With this new version, VDE FNN has made important corrections regarding the operation, application, and compliance of the Control Box. Among other things, the parameter set and certificate set were updated, and corrections were made to the [added by editor: IEC 61850] data model. These new adjustments thus improve the operation and flexibility of the FNN Control Box and make an important contribution to implementing control via the smart metering system."

This specification is worth to purchase and to read. The price for the eBook is 69,00 Euro.

Click HERE for a link to the order form ...

On the last page you will find a link to the ICD file for the device ... free of charge.